Shoe and shoe parts



May 1941- L. J; BAZZONI 2,240,603

SHOE AND SHOE PARTS Filed May 31, 1939 2 Sheets-Sheet l WM/WM? a; a

.MayG, 1941. BAZZON, 2,240,603

SHOE AND SHOE PARTS Filed May 31, 1939' 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Fig.8

' WVENTU/F .22; w nam/ 27 Patented May 6, 1941 United Shoe Machinery Corporation,;B0rough. of Flemington, N. J., a. corporation of New Jersey Application May 31, 1939, serial No. 276,669

8 Claims. (o1. sit-.25

This invention relates to improvements in shoes and to improvements in insoles and filler pieces-for use therein.

In the manufacture of women's shoes difllculty is oftenexperienced in securinga tight joint becurvature lengthwise-of the shoe andhas, in addition, a decided downward bulge or ridge where the back seam is located. Consequently, when the heel is applied it usually willnot fit accurately upon the shoe bottom but will be held away from. the shoe by the back seam ridge and by the lengthwise l curvature or other irregularity in. the marginal heel-seat portion of the shoe bottom and the heel attaching pressure will usuallybe inadequate toflatten the-shoebottomsufiiciently to insure a tight joint between it and therimof'theheel;

It is. one object of the present invention to overcome difficulties such as those just referred to andto that end the invention, in one aspect,

provides. means in the nature of a filler piece which is adapted? for. introduction into the marginal heel-seat portion of a shoebottom and which; iscapable of yielding: or collapsing under the, pressure incident. to the operation. of-attaching a. heel to the shoe so that theoverlasted upper margin at the heel seat. 0f, the shoewill conform closely to, the rim. or the attaching" face of the heel and atightjointwill be formed between the upper: and the. heel rim; regardlessof differences in profile betweenthe. upper margin. and the heel rim before the heeliattaching'pressure is applied. Preferably, and as herein. illustrated, the, yieldable or collapsible fi1ler-means consists of a heel and: shank fillerpiece made offiberboard; leatherboard or, other suitable substantiaily non-resilient material cutto correspond in ed e contour to that oitheheel, and; shank portion of an insole, theffiller piece; having: a cor.- rugated, crimped or flutedmargin. As. shown, this; filler piece, is. located, in the shoe with. the

corrugated margin of the piece; between the insole and the overlasted upper marginwhere it be in: line, with therrim off a heel to be. at.- tached; to the; shoe. The. corrugatedyor crimped margin of the. filler: piece is: adapted. to; coilanse in the vicinity of any irregularities of formation in theheel-seat portionof the overlasted upper margin under the action of the heel attaching pressure to insure the obtaining of the desired tight joint between the shoe bottom andtheheel rim and toremain permanently in collapsed condition so that no irregularities of surfacecontour will be developed in the-insole as a result of reaction-of the collapsed portionsof the filler piece.

The invention also consists in various other novel features-hereinafter described and claimed,

the advantages of which will be apparent to those skilled in the art.

The invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which Fig; 1 is a plan view of my improved filler piece;

Fig, 2 is a cross-sectional view of the filler piece taken along the line II--II of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3is an edge view'of the filler piece;

Fig. 4 is a perspective view of an insole unit embodying my improved filler piece, the unit being shown bottom sideup Fig, 5 is a cross-sectional view of the insole unitv taken along the line V-'V of Fig, 4', the unit being shown right side up;

Fig, 6"isa rear View, of a shoe the heel of which hasbeen. placed in position for attachment but has, not, been subjected to heel attaching pressure, they view illustrating how the bulge of the back. scam in the heelrseatcportion of the upper tends to prevent the rim of. the heel from seating properly upon the shoe. bottom;

Fig 7 is arear View of a. shoe having. an attachedheel and provided with my improved filler piece,- a portionof the upper of the shoe being broken away to illustrate how the crimped or corrugated margin of the filler piece collapses to accommodate the bulge of the back scam in the heel seatportion ofthe shoe;

Fig, 8 is. a view in side elevation of the rear portion of, a shoe embodying my improved filler piece, the shoe being shown on a, last as the shoe appears after having been positioned in a heel attaching; machine but before the heel attaching pressure-has been-applied, aportion of the upper oiv the; shoe being broken away to show the.appearance of the insole, the crimped filler piece, andthey overlasted margins of the upper materialsrat, that stagein the heel attaching operation; and

F g. 9. is a view, inside: elevation of a portion of the; shoe. it; appears; after. the; heel has.v been attached-,theaupperrbeing broken away to; illustrate the appearance of the crimped margin of the filler piece in the completed shoe.

As shown in the drawings I provide, for use in the heel and shank portion of the bottom of a shoe, a heel and shank filler piece l2 which may be made of any suitable substantially non-resilient material, such as fiberboard, leatherboard or the like, and which is shaped in edge contour, as by a die-cutting or rounding openation, to correspond with that of the heel and shank portion of the insole of the shoe so that the filler piece will be coextensive with the heel and shank portion of the insole.

In order that the marginal portion of the filler piece may be rendered capable of collapsing, under the pressure incident to the operation of attaching the heel to the shoe, in such localities as to compensate for irregularities of shoe bottom formation, the material along the margin of the filler piece may be expanded, as for example by means of a crimping or corrugating operation, so as to provide marginal corrugations comprising alternately disposed elevations or ridges l4 and corresponding depressions or valleys I6. This may be readily accomplished by molding the marginal portion of the filler piece between suitable dies or by progressively feeding the margin between cooperating toothed crimping or corrugating rolls. As illustrated, the ridges and depressions produced by the corrugating operation extend transversely with respect to the adjacent edge portions of the filler piece and the ridges are of maximum height and the depressions of maximum depth at the extreme edge of the piece, the height of the ridges and the depth of the depressions decreasing inwardly from the edge of the filler piece until the ridges and depressions blend or merge with the uncrimped interior portion of the filler piece at points spaced approximately A; of an inch from the edge around the heel portion of the filler piece. Advantageously, and as shown, the corrugations are all substantially uniform in character around the heel portion of the filler piece but from the heel portion forwardly they gradually decrease in prominence, the ridges becoming progressively less pronounced both in length'and height until they disappear entirely at points substantially midway of the length of the shank portion of the filler piece. In Figs. 1 to '3, inclusive, the filler piece is shown as being flat except where its marginal portion is corrugated and the filler pieces may be sold as articles of manufacture in this condition. If desired, however, they may be molded to curve them longitudinally and transversely so as to conform to the curvature of the bottom of a last before they are assembled with the other parts of a shoe.

Desirably the corrugated filler piece may be assembled with a shank stiffener and an insole to provide a reinforced insole adapted to be used as a unit in the manufacture of a shoe; Such an insole unit is illustrated in Figs. 4 and 5 wherenotch 22 is provided in the forward extremity of the heel and shank piece [2 to receive the forward portion of the shank stifiener to insure against edgewise displacement of the latter;

When my improved heel and shank fillerpiece is used in a shoe with the margin of the filler piece interposed between the insole and the overlasted margin of the upper, as indicated in Figs. 7, 8 and 9, the corrugated margin of the filler piece constitutes a yieldable element which, while adapted to maintain its expanded or corrugated form throughout the operation of lasting the upper, is capable of being collapsed more or less as the result of the pressure incident to the attachment of a heel to the shoe in certain localities where the bottom surface of the overlasted upper margin does not conform to a plane. Thus, when the rini of the heel (which does lie in a plane) and heel-seat portion of the shoe bottom are forced together under considerable pressure, allthe curved or projecting portions along the heel-seat margin of the overlasted upper are flattened out and as a result the rim of the heel is seated tightly against the upper so that it forms a tight joint therewith.

One of the conditions of irregularity in the heel seat portion of the shoe bottom which is thus compensated for by the collapsing of portions of the corrugated margin of the filler piece is illustrated in Fig. 6, which is a back view of a shoe having a two-part quarter 24 the parts of which are united by a back seam 2B. This back seam is formed by the stitching together of folded-over edges of the upper materials asa result of which a substantial downward bulge 28 is formed in the overlasted margin of the upper. In this figure a heel 30 is shown which has been placed in position for attachment but which has not been subjected to heel attaching pressure and the figure clearly illustrates how the bulge 28 of the back seam tends to prevent the rim of the heel from seating properly on the shoe bottom.

Another condition of irregularity in the heelseat portion of the shoe bottom is that illustrated in Fig. 8 which shows a portion of a shoe in side elevation, the shoe being mounted upon a last L and assembled with a heel 3|) on a heel attaching machine of the type disclosed in United States Letters Patent No. 1,826,723, granted October 13, 1931, upon application of Bertrand, the heel supporting members being shown at 38 and 40 and the last engaging clamp at 42. In this figure the outsole is shown at 43 and upper materials have been broken away to show the overlasted marginal partions thereof at the side of the shoe as well as the corresponding corrugated marginal portion of the filler piece as they appear in a plane located directly above the rim of the heel. It will be seen that the bottom contour or'profile of the overlasted upper materials is downwardly convex lengthwise of the shoe from the rear of the heel forwardly to a point located a substantial distance rearward of the forward edge of the heel breast lip and that forwardly of this point the bottom curvature or profile of this part of the shoe bottom is downwardly concave.

As illustrated in Fig. 8, the heel attaching preslocalities 44. Afterthe heel attaching pressure has been applied, however, through the medium of the heel clamp 42, the corrugated-margin of the filler piece is caused to collapse above the back seam bulge 28 (as indicated at 48 in Fig. 7), and above the localities as and d8 (as indicated at and 52, respectively, in Fig. 9). As a result the back seam bulge and the curved portions of the bottom margin are flattened to conform to the plane of the rim of the heel and the latter is seated tightly against the bottom of the shoe. It should be understood that Fig. 8 illustrates only one condition of profile curvature of the marginal heel-seat portion of a shoe bottom and various other conditions of curvature often occur as a result of the curvature of corresponding portions of the last or for other reasons such as nonuniformity of thickness of different portions of the upper materials, improper lasting of the upper, etc. Inasmuch as the filler piece is made of substantially non-resilient material, there will be no reaction of the collapsed portions of the filler piece after the last has been withdrawn from the shoe and consequently no irregularities of surface contour will be later developed in the insole to cause discomfort to the foot.

Having described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. A heel seat filler piece consisting of a single layer of readily deformable material having its marginal portion only fluted and comprising a series of ridges extending in directions transverse to the edge of the piece, said ridges decreasing in height gradually from their outer extremities to localities where they merge into a substantially fiat central portion.

2. A single ply heel and shank piece of readily deformable material having a corrugated margin comprising a plurality of ridges extending transversely to the edge of the piece, the ridges progressively decreasing in height from their outer to their inner extremities.

3. A one-piece heel and shank filler having a fluted marginal portion only, the flutes extending transversely to the edge around the heel and along the shank portion and progressively decreasing in length and height forwardly from the heel portion of the filler piece, and the shank portion of said filler being unfiuted throughout a substantial portion of its length.

4. A heel and shank filler piece composed of a single layer of deformable, substantially nonresilient material and having an edge contour corresponding to that of the heel and shank portion of the bottom of a shoe, said filler piece having its rear and side margins crimped and comprising ridges extending at right angles to the edge of the piece and adapted to collapse under the pressure incident to the attachment of a heel to a shoe in which said filler piece is incorporated, said ridges progressively decreasing in height forwardly of the heel portion of the piece, and said filler piece being uncrimped and flat throughout the greater part of the length of its shank portion.

5. An insole unit comprising an insole conforming to last bottom curvature in its shank por tion, a reinforcing piece coextensive with the heel and shank portion of the insole and secured to the lower side of the latter, and a longitudinally curved shank stiffener interposed between said parts, the marginal heel portion of said reinforcing piece being crimped and comprising a series of spaced ridges extending in directions transverse to the edge of the unit, said ridges progressively decreasing in length and height forwardly of the heel portion thereof and the forward shank portion of said reinforcing piece being uncrimped.

6. In a shoe having a heel the rim of the attaching face of which lies in a plane, and a shoe bottom element having a marginal heel-seat portion which does not lie in a plane, a filler piece located at the outer or lower side of said bottom element and having a corrugated marginal portion comprising a series of elevations of difierent degrees of prominence compensating for differences between the profile of the rim of th heel and the profile of the marginal heel-seat portion of said bottom element.

'7. In a shoe, an insole, an upper having in its rear portion a bottom margininturned beneaththe insole, a heel attached to said bottom margin, the rim of the attaching face of the heel having a profile difiering in contour from that of the profile of the marginal heel-seat portion of said insole, and a filler piece between said inturned bottom margin and said insole having a crimped margin comprising alternating elevated and depressed portions engaging, respectively, said insole and said bottom margin, said elevations and depressions varying in dimensions heightwise of the shoe to compensate for differences in contour of said profiles and thus to insure a tight joint between said bottom margin and the rim of the heel.

8. In a shoe, an insole the opposite lateral margins of the heel portion of which are downwardly convex in directions lengthwise of the shoe and heel, a heel-seat filler piece secured to said insole, said filler piece being coextensive with the heel-seat portion of the insole and located beneath the latter, an upper having an inturned bottom margin underlying said filler piece, and a heel permanently attached to the shoe having the rim of its attaching face lying in a plane and seating against said inturned bottom margin, said filler piece having a corrugated margin, the corrugations of which are collapsed varying amounts thereby accommodating said convexity of said insole margins, thus to insure a tight joint between the rim of the heel and the bottom margin of the upper.

LEWIS J. BAZZONI. 

